I made a few interesting discoveries about Patrick this weekend. First, while Alex has never show much interest for just taking a walk through the woods, Patrick may be more interested in the woods than in playgrounds. The whole family went to Ravenna playground this past weekend. While Alex remained firmly planted in the sandbox with mom, Patrick wandered off with me, found Ravenna Creek, and followed it through the ravine. All along the way, he kept pointing to the creek and saying, “Daddy! Waterfall!” (There are a few small waterfalls.) That was the second discovery: He knows the word “waterfall.” I didn’t teach it to him!

I took Patrick back to Ravenna today. (He was running a high fever in the morning so we had to keep him home, but by mid-morning he was happy and needed to get outside.) The novelty hadn’t worn off. He had a great time chasing after squirrels and crows, and he eagerly sought out every source of running water he could hear.

One of the “floater” teachers stopped me as I was picking up the kids this afternoon. She told me that she had stopped by Alex’s classroom at snack time, and he looked sad. She told me about their conversation.

Teacher: Alex, why are you sad?

Alex: Because all of these people want to marry me, and I can only marry one!

What I didn’t realize until this year, though, is the University District Street Fair is not just predictable, it’s actually identical year after year. The same street performers were at the same bus stop. The same photographer sold the same triptychs of mountain wildflowers. There were the same people making balloon animals. It’s Groundhog Day in May.

We did encounter one new gem, though: A jump rope performance by Ropeworks. I didn’t know you could make a “performance” out of jumping rope, any more than you could make a performance of squat thrusts. It’s just something from gym class, right?